Let's be honest - 2024 was a doozy. But in spite of a disappointing presidential election, there is still cause for celebration. California had some major wins in 2024. And the work we continue to do in California will continue to set the bar for the rest of the nation, even the world, in the uncertain months (and years) ahead.
So, let’s take a look at all we can accomplish when we work together. Here are some highlights from Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign this year:
Statewide Wins
- CA Ends Neighborhood Oil Drilling: In June, Big Oil officially ended their months-long referendum bid to repeal SB 1137, the bill we won in 2022 to end neighborhood drilling through the creation of setbacks. This marked the official start of setbacks going into effect! This win follows over a decade of work by frontline communities and countless hours of coordination across Sierra Club to pass SB 1137 two years ago.
- Fracking Banned in CA: State regulation banning fracking has been in the works since 2021, and in March, our team gathered over 1,067 comments in one week in support of the proposed Fracking Ban Rule. With this last comment period, the state finalized the rule, which officially banned fracking permits starting on October 1, 2024.
- Groundbreaking report on idle wells: We did a ton to capitalize on our highly successful release of last year’s report, The $23 billion dollar question, what created California’s idle well crisis., including the launch of our makepolluterspayca.com webpage and a statewide webinar for volunteers, partners, and elected offices to attend.
- Laws that #MakePollutersPay: On Sept 25th, Sierra Club joined Governor Newsom for a public signing of AB 3233, AB 1866, and AB 2716. This bill package will help protect the already won phase-out ordinances in LA City and LA County in the face of recent legal challenges, and will prevent operators from shirking the responsibility of cleaning up the over 41,000 idle oil wells in California.
Litigation Highlights
- Sierra Club vs. Exxon: In a groundbreaking move, the Sierra Club has joined forces with the California Attorney General and other leading environmental organizations to file a lawsuit against oil giant ExxonMobil, challenging their deceptive practices regarding single-use plastics and their devastating impact on our environment and health.
Sierra Club President Allison Chin joins a coalition of environmental groups and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to announce lawsuits suing Exxon for their role contributing to the plastic pollution crisis.
- No Country for Boundless Oil Drilling: We won a lawsuit stopping the attempted fast-tracking of oil permits with a universal permit in Kern County.This ruling sends a clear signal that cutting corners to drill won’t be tolerated at the expense of Kern’s air, water and soil!
- Environmental Groups Sue over Decades of Air Quality Failures in San Joaquin Valley: The San Joaquin Valley is the only region in the US that still hasn't met 1997 standards for particulate pollution. Last month, an environmental coalition, including the Sierra Club, Little Manila Rising, and Medical Advocates for Healthy Air, filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to enforce critical Clean Air Act deadlines in California's San Joaquin Valley, where residents continue to breathe some of the nation's most polluted air.
Local Wins
- Fighting Risky Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Projects: This year, our team began fighting in a new battleground in the fight to end oil and gas pollution in California. Earlier in the year, we collected and submitted 86 comments to Kern County's planning commission – as well as a whooping 1600 comments to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency – to stop a proposed local CCS project called Carbon TerraVault CCS. But the project reanimated In October, joining forces with yet another CCS project. Our team collected over 1,100 comments statewide and turned out 50 community members to speak against these two dangerous Carbon Capture projects aimed to continue the life of oil and gas production in Kern County.
- Overwhelming people power in Signal Hill: After multiple canvasses led by Sierra Club and Climate Brunch, our advocates working to stop the 20-year permit extension have knocked on over a 1000 doors in Signal Hill, or approximately 40% of the total population! This herculean effort culminated with over 50 people filling City Hall chambers in June to give comment on the EIR for the drilling expansion project (press release).
Nicole Levin and volunteers at the very first canvass in Signal Hill.
- Sable Pipeline: On November 11, environmental groups gathered in San Francisco to demand action against the restart of Sable Pipeline off of Santa Barbara’s coast. Over 50 people representing volunteers from a dozen groups joined together. The Coastal Commission issued a cease and desist order to Sable, requiring its operator to take immediate steps to address the potential harm to coastal resources caused by the recent unpermitted work.
Look at what we accomplished in California, thanks to you! We're committed to keeping up the momentum to defending hard-fought victories and pushing the state to do even more in 2025.